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Investment helps Spark EV target £501m electric vehicle market

CleanTech startup Spark EV is driving business development of its artificial intelligence-based journey prediction system for electric vehicles with a £50,000 investment from New Anglia Capital as part of its seed investment round.

The company, which recently expanded into new premises at Lanwades Business Park near Newmarket, will use the investment to expand business development. This includes adding a trade manager to support overseas sales, particularly in Scandinavia, where it is already receiving strong interest.

Launched in 2017, Spark EV analyses live driver, vehicle and other data sources – such as the weather and congestion – using its advanced algorithms to increase the accuracy of journey predictions for electric vehicles.

Research carried out by the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School estimates that the global market for EV prediction solutions will rise to at least £501 million by 2022.

The system uses a combination of easy to install sensor technology, cloud-based machine learning analysis software and a powerful smartphone app. Fleet managers and drivers enter their proposed journey and get advice on whether they will be able to complete it – based on live data, previous trips and charge point locations.

This delivers reassurance to fleet managers and drivers that they will be able to schedule and complete jobs without running out of charge, removing range anxiety while increasing the amount of potential vehicle journeys by an additional 2.8 per day.

Spark EV’s move to the Lanwades Business Park, where it joins existing tenant EO Charging, forms the nucleus of an EV cluster in the area.

Justin Ott, CEO, Spark EV Technology which is on the initial shortlist for the 2018 Business Weekly Awards, said: “Since we launched Spark EV last year we’ve seen increasing interest from fleet operators looking to move to electric vehicles, but who have been previously worried about efficiency and range anxiety.

“This new investment from New Anglia Capital, on top of money from the Low Carbon Innovation Fund, will help us meet this growing demand and target an estimated half a billion pound market with our AI-powered EV prediction solution.”